Chapter 1: Setting the Scene
Naruto sat in the library, surrounded by scrolls. The 5-year-old was busy teaching himself. He'd already taught himself how to read and write and he was now on math, somewhat advanced math considering his age.
The librarians would help him when he had a question, or would show him where the scrolls and books he needed were located. Aya, the younger of the two librarians, crouched down next to him.
"You're already on fourth grade math? I'm impressed."
Naruto looked up and grinned.
"Nee-chan, may I please have some paper and pencils and a – " Aya held up a hand.
"We set up a desk for you. Yayoi remembered what scrolls you were looking at last time and put them on the desk, along with whatever else we thought you might need."
The little blond looked happy. Aya helped him gather up the scattered scrolls and they headed towards the child-sized desk. Naruto sat down and began to work. Aya glanced back fondly as she left him to his studies. She couldn't believe it had already been four years since they first met.
Flashback
1-year-old Naruto ran towards a large building, his pursuers close behind.
He hoped that the people inside would be nice and help him, he didn't want to get hurt again 'cause Kyuu-chan always got upset when that happened and then Naruto had to go to the hospital.
He didn't like hospitals.
The little boy climbed up the steps quickly and entered the building. Aya and Yayoi, the senior librarian, had looked up in surprise to see the little boy run in.
He didn't even notice them as he ran to the back, where the children's section was located. Yayoi glanced towards the doors to see a group of villagers with a few shinobi mixed in.
One of the men stepped forward angrily.
"Have you seen the demon?"
Yayoi glared. "No I haven't. And please remember that this is a library."
The group left and Aya looked at her superior. "Why did you hide him?"
The older woman sighed. "He's a child. One who doesn't know what's going on. I believe he headed for the children's section. Come."
The two women walked in the direction they had seen the child go. They found him in the children's section flipping through a picture book. Yayoi chuckled and replaced it with an ABC book.
She sat down next to him and began reading the letters out loud. Aya brought over paper and crayons and gave them to Naruto.
The 1-year-old began to carefully copy the letters of the alphabet, saying the name of each letter out loud, all from memory. To say the women were surprised was an understatement. They sat with him as he scribbled happily on the paper.
Two ANBU captains who had come in to look for Naruto found him sitting on the floor surrounded by drawings. Yayoi and Aya had been taking turns reading books out loud to the blonde when the ANBU showed up.
Needless to say, both ANBU were surprised at what they found. They watched the scene silently for a few minutes before one of them chuckled.
"We'll bring him here in the morning and pick him up at night. That is if you're willing to let him come here."
Yayoi nodded.
"We'll give him lunch and snacks and get some new clothes for him. In return the library gets more funding. The kid is a genius by the way, he is most likely hyper-sensitive."
The ANBU who had spoken nodded thoughtfully.
"We'll tell the Hokage, but only the five of us will know."
The other ANBU, a girl, turned to the child.
"Naruto, its time to go home. Do you want to say goodnight to the Hokage first?"
Naruto grinned and held out his arms. The girl laughed and swung him up before turning to face Yayoi and Aya.
"Thanks to you two, we don't need to take the gaki to the hospital today and as a bonus he's smiling."
The man nodded goodbye. Yayoi called out to the small group as they left.
"What are your names?"
The man turned back.
"Hatake Kakashi, Mitarashi Anko, and the kid is Uzumaki Naruto. Good night."
Flashback
That had been four years ago.
Kakashi and Anko still brought Naruto to the library and picked him up when they didn't have missions. Aya knew that they also taught Naruto about ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu.
Kakashi wanted Naruto to enter the Academy early, but the three women and the Hokage were against it. They wanted Naruto to be with his age group.
Aya was aware that outside of the library Naruto was always acting like an idiot. They had determined that Naruto did have a photographic memory, as well as auditory memory. In short, his I.Q. was way off the charts.
They had decided to tell him about the Kyuubi last year and were surprised that he already knew. The reason was surprising as well.
"Kyuu is the one who told me. Whenever the beatings get really bad, I go to where he is. Kyuu's my friend. He said that he was looking for someone but people kept on attacking him. So he fought back and he's sorry now."
Naruto had then grinned at them.
Because Kakashi and Anko couldn't always take him, the villagers occasionally caught the child. However, the boy never lost his smile. He had also started playing pranks on the villagers, some of which occurred while he was at the library.
Of course, nobody but the five adults knew he was able to perform Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.
Aya looked back at Naruto. He was happily working at his new desk and talking to himself.
Or rather, as the woman listened to what he was saying, he was talking to the Kyuubi. She smiled fondly.